Monday, June 29, 2009

120 Palette Inspiration: Taco Bell at 3AM

A few weeks ago, I finally gave into my curiosity and purchased the 120 palette on Ebay. I figured, for $15 what did I have to lose? Friday, my palette arrived from Hong Kong and despite seeing warning after warning that they usually come with at least a few broken pans, mine had not a single chip. I couldn't wait to play, but with so many colors, where does one begin? So I asked my tweeps for some inspiration. My pseudo brother-in-law replied thusly:

"Makeup Inspiration Suggestion: taco bell at 3AM after a drunken rager of a party. AND GO!"

So, for those of you that don't follow me on twitter, here it is:Though this is obviously not a look you're going to wear to the grocery store, without the bled-out mascara, it's actually quite wearable. In case you didn't pick up on it, the colors on my lid- yellow, fuchsia and purplish-blue are the colors of Taco Bell's logo. The bleeding mascara, well, that's the 3AM after a drunken rager part...

I enjoyed playing with the palette; give me a few weeks to play and evaluate and I promise a more comprehensive review. I should mention, the photos are not the greatest (it was getting ready to storm outside, so I just couldn't find good light!) The colors look a bit washed out- they were much brighter in person.

I primed my lid and applied a white cream shadow to the inner third of my eye, just up to the crease. Then, using a small, dense brush I applied a vivid, matte yellow to my lid over the white, again, just to the inner third of the eye. Using my pencil brush, I layered a lighter, slightly shimmery yellow over the matte shade in the very inner corner of my eye, extending it down onto my tear duct and slightly under the inner corner of my lower lash line.

Next I took a bright, matte fuchsia and patted it on the outer two-thirds of my eye, being careful to just blend the edge of the yellow with the fuchsia. Switching to a domed shader brush, I took a deep purple and applied it to my crease, extending the line into a soft V shape to connect it to my upper lash line. Using a pencil brush, I added in a bit of cobalt blue over the purple and slightly into the fuchsia, just to blend the colors.

After cleaning off my domed shader, I applied a matte white to highlight my brow bone and fade out the purple. I added a bit more purple along my upper and lower lashes, stopping short where the yellow was applied (yellow+purple= mud).

If you've never purposely smudged your mascara, here's how I did it: I applied regular black mascara to my bottom lashes only. Then I put a drop of Visine in each eye, and blinked my eyes shut rather tightly. This gives a bit of smudge to start with, for added drama I took a fan brush and lightly dragged it through the wet mascara. Now that you know how to do this, promise you'll only use your knowledge for good, OK?

Product List:

EyesBase: Urban Decay Primer PotionEye Lids: 120 Palette (the one with the row of marbled shades)For a view of the 120 palette with the specific shades I used outlined, CLICK HERE.Brows: Automatic Brow Pencil Duo in Soft Brown (Estee Lauder) Mascara: L'Oreal Voluminous in Carbon Black

And I Am...?

Homebase is Cincinnati, OH, and yes, I'm proud to be an Ohio girl! I love the fact that there's a Saks and Tiffany & Co. downtown, but I can drive 15 minutes and see a cornfield! I've been a makeup artist and skin care buff for almost 20 years, in just about every realm of the business you can be in- I've worked retail, managed & trained for major companies, done makeup for theatre, advertising, weddings; you name it! I'm married to the love of my life, soul mate, high-school sweetheart, life partner and other half, Brad, and we have an incredible 7-year-old daughter. I spend most of my time raising my baby (girl scout leader, school-helper, crafting and party planner extraordinaire !)